Dota 2 New Hero Ringmaster – Everything We Know About the 125th Dota 2 Hero: Skills, Talents, Facets, Role in the Game

Ahead of The International 2024, which will take place from September 4 to 19, Valve has shed light on the new Dota 2 hero – Ringmaster. The mysterious magician became available in the game on August 23, 2024.

Ringmaster is the 125th Dota 2 hero and the newest hero as of 2024. In this article, we cover everything you need to know about the Great Cogliostro Kettle – Ringmaster: Ringmaster’s abilities, his role in the game, and lore.

All Ringmaster Skills

Ringmaster fully lives up to his status as a circus ringmaster and a brilliant magician. Nearly all of his abilities are focused on controlling enemies.

Innate Ability – Dark Carnival Barker

Ringmaster receives a random single-use Dark Carnival Souvenir whenever an enemy hero dies within 925 units of him. Additional Souvenirs are held as charges.

If Ringmaster does not have a Souvenir when he respawns he will be granted one.

Souvenirs of the Dark Carnival include a Funhouse Mirror, a Strongman Tonic, and a Whoopee Cushion

• Funhouse Mirror

Use: Proportion Distortion

Creates 1 imperfect image of your hero that lasts 18 seconds. Your illusion deals 28% and takes 300% damage.

• Strongman Tonic

Use: Forcefully Imbibe

Temporarily increases an allied hero's Strength by 5 plus 1,5 per Ringmaster's level for 8 seconds. The effect holds for 4 seconds and then deteriorates over the duration.

• Whoopee Cushion

Use: Whoopsie

Propels your hero forward 400 units. Leaves a 200 radius stink cloud behind for 3 seconds that slows enemies by -30%.

Q – Tame the Beasts

CHANNELED - Ringmaster twirls his whip for up to 1 second then cracks it. Whipped enemies are damaged and flee in fear from Ringmaster. Channel time exponentially increases damage and extends the fear duration, but reduces the radius.

W – Escape Act

Ringmaster packs himself or an allied hero into a mobile, extradimensional box. Boxed units gain phased movement, slow resistance, bonus magic resistance, and bonus movement speed. They are also untargetable, muted, silenced, and disarmed. The box will pop open after the effect expires or it moves more than 500 units away.

E – Impalement Arts

Ringmaster throws one of his daggers to a precise point of his choosing. If he strikes an enemy, the dagger deals impact damage, briefly slows the unit hit, and causes them to bleed. The bleeding deals a percentage of the victim's maximum health in damage every second to heroes and flat damage per second to creeps.

As you level up, the number of daggers in the Ringmaster's arsenal increases.

R – Wheel of Wonder

Ringmaster rolls the Wheel of Wonder to the targeted location, knocking aside enemies along the way. After it reaches its target, enemies in range of the wheel take damage over time and are slowed by -50%.

Enemy heroes who face the wheel for more than 0,5 seconds are mesmerized and drawn towards it. The first enemy to be mesmerized triggers a timer for the wheel to explode. If the timer is not triggered, it will automatically explode after 8 seconds.

As you can see, the Ringmaster has a lot of abilities in his arsenal that allow you to control the battlefield and control the enemies.

Ringmaster Talents

Ringmaster, like all Dota 2 heroes, has a set of talents. However, unlike most characters who have talents that boost HP, mana, or other stats, all of Ringmaster’s talents are tied to his skills.

• Lvl 10: +75 Tame the Beasts Radius/+200 Escape Act Cast Range
• Lvl 15: Debuff Immunity While Channeling Tame the Beasts/Debuff Immunity While Channeling Tame the Beasts
• Lvl 20: +75/+300 Tame the Beasts Min-Max Damage/+1s Impalement Arts Bleed and Slow Duration
• Lvl 25: +100 Wheel Radius and Range/Escape Act Grants Strong Dispel and Flying

With the naked eye, pumping through Q or through W is visible.

Ringmaster Facets, Aghanim Scepter and Shard

Despite having a vast arsenal of active abilities (3 main ones, an ultimate, and 3 skills from the Dark Carnival Barker passive), Ringmaster did not receive Facets or an Aghanim's Scepter on the day of his release. In fact, this is standard practice for Valve; even Muerta didn’t have an Aghanim's Scepter on her release day.

However, Ringmaster does have an Aghanim's Shard, which grants him a new ability – Spotlight.

Spotlight

Ringmaster shines a spotlight that sweeps over an area. Enemies in the light have a chance to miss their attacks and are revealed if invisible.

Illusions hit by the beam fade away, losing a percentage of their maximum health each second.

Ringmaster Role

Dota 2 – the most non-linear game of all that I know. Heroes here can be used in various ways, as one wishes, and Ringmaster is no exception. In the end, until the professionals have had a chance to explore Ringmaster and play a few hundred matches with him, I suggest using him as Valve intended.

And Valve refers to Ringmaster as a Support. In fact, this makes a lot of sense, as the hero has a lot of control abilities thanks to (Q) Tame the Beasts and (R) Wheel of Wonder. Additionally, Ringmaster can harass enemy heroes using the Impalement Arts ability, which deals percentage damage based on the target’s total health.

Finally, his identity as a Support is hinted at by the “innate” ability Dark Carnival Barker, which adds strength to the lane after a kill or assist. This ability works more effectively on the side lane, where there are more opportunities for skirmishes.

So, for now, that’s all we know about Ringmaster in Dota 2. To delve deeper into this new Dota 2 hero, we need time, and while we do that, you can check out The International 2024 Compendium, which is disappointing this year, or read about the rise of Ringmaster in a special comic.